Conveyer stairs



F. D. BARLING CONVEYER STAIRS Filed March 7, 1931 WWII/Mmmm are disposed in the Patented Aug. l, 1933 tiliii' STATES lEATiNT 1,920,457 ,CONVEYER STAIRS Frank D. Barling, Linden, Calif.

Application March 7,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to conveyers for bulk materials, and especially to one of a type used to discharge certain products into a storage binan operation which is performed from the top of the bin.

l' have particularly in mind the handling of walnuts and lihe, products, which if allowed to drop any considerable distance are apt to crack: open and of course they then lose most of their inarlret value. o avoid this breaking, conveym ing devices have been used, which consist of vertical chutes depending into the bin nearly to the bottom of the same and which are provided with step or staggered platforms arranged to break: the fall of the nuts as they are dumped into the chute. Such devices, however, dispose the nuts in the bottom of the bin over a relatively small area which is soon filled and the chute, of course, becomes choked. It is then necessary for a worker to enter the bin and shovel the nuts away from the mouth or discharge end of the chute in order to permit the structure to continue to function. Even then it is, of course, practically impossible to completely fill the bin unless the conveyor is raised at interu vals as the bin fills. With such an apparatus, therefore, the lling of a bin is a slow and rela tively costly procedure.

The principal object of my invention is to avoid these objectionable features by providing a conveyer for the purpose, by means of which not only are the nuts as discharged on to the upper end of the same prevented from dropping an excessive distance and being broken as they bin, but the bin may fill up more or less evenly of itself without any manual attention being necessary. The conveyer is also arranged so that it may be used as a stairway for a person entering the bin, as must sometimes be done.

Also, with the ordinary type of bin conveyer or catch screen arrangement, the outlet from the bin is choked and the flow of products there from badly retarded. My improved conveyer avoids this objectionable feature.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference t uddicate corresponding parts in the several views:

1931. Serial Ne. 520,905

(Cl. 193-28l Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved conveyer stairs as mounted in a bin.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the conveyer showing the adjustable mounting of the platforms.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing, the bin 1 in which the conveyer is shown as being used, is of an ordinary opentopped type used for storage purposes, the bottom 2 of the bin having an upward slope toward the back.

The conveyer in the arrangement shown consists of upper and lower flights F and F. The upper flight includes transversely spaced side boards 3, which extend with a downward slope from the front of the bin adjacent the top to the back of the bin adjacent its junction with the bottom.

The lower flight includes side boards 4, eX- tending from adjacent the inner-most end of the boards 3 in overlapping relation thereto, to the front end of the bin in substantially parallel and spaced relation to the bottom of the same.

Between and supported by the boards 3 is a plurality of platforms 5 which are horizontal in a transverse plane and are spaced apart both in horizontal and vertical planes so that they are disposed in stepped relation. All the platforms are set with a downward slope toward the back end of the night, but the slope of the uppermost platform is slightly greater than that of the majority, while the slope of the inner-most and lowest platform is slightly less.

Similarly disposed and spaced platforms 6 eX- tend between the boards 4 of the lower flight, the downward slope of the platforms 6 being, of course, in the direction of the slope of the side boards 4, or toward the front of the bin. In this platform arrangement the upper-most platform has a greater slope than the majority and the lowest one a lesser slope. The upper-most platform 6 is below and projects rearwardly of the adjacent platform 5; a vertical transverse baie board '7 extending between the side boards from said platform 6 to a level above that of said platform 5. lf desired, the upper portion Zd of this baiile may be hinged so as to be folded down and back. Similarly the upper portions 3a of the side boards 3 above the level of the platforms 5 may be hinged so as to fold over and down.

The upper-most platform 5 abuts against the front wall of the bin and is directly under an intake hopper 8 into which the nuts to be binned are initially dumped. The nuts are caught by uppermmost platform and from there roll on to the successive platforms. the platforms is such that the momentum of the nuts prevents them from dropping between the spaced platforms, while at the same time they do not get excessive speed, The slope of the upper-most platform being relatively greater, the nuts are given while the slope of the lower-most platform being relatively'smaller, the speed of the nuts is there slackened so that they do board with excessive force.

' The bale board deects the nuts from the lower-most platform 5 on to the adjacent uppeimost platform 6 of the lower flight.- nuts then roll various platformsvof said flight until they drop close to the conveyer, so that the one,

As the piles of nuts in the bin accumulate and reach the level of the lower-most platform. 6, the latter ceases to discharge and becomes practically covered with the nuts. The nuts then pass for the time being between said platform and the adjacent one, until the levell of the nuts in the bin has been raised to that or said adjaupper flight by lowering the of the side boards 3.

upper portions 3a This enables the nuts to for different rolling tendencies of'different products.`

While I have here shown and described a corlveyer as. being disposed as Within a nut-re- The slope of a certain starting speed;v

not strike the baillel ceiving bin, it is obvious that it is not necessarily used in a operate. From the foregoing description it will be read- `ily seen that I have produced such a device as device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as delined by the appended claims.

Having thus describedr my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by'Letters Patent is:

1. A conveyer structure including Yspaced side boards having adownward slope from one end to the other, and platform s extending between and supported by said boards in stepped relation FRANK D. BARLING.

and means mounting the portions of 

